talk(1) — AIX PS/2 1.2.1



TALK(1,C)                   AIX TCP/IP User's Guide                   TALK(1,C)



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
talk



PURPOSE

Converse with another user.

SYNTAX


        +-- user@host --+   +-------+
talk ---|               |---|       |---|
        +- user --------+   +- tty -+


DESCRIPTION

The talk command allows two users to type simultaneously into windows displayed
on each other's terminals.  To initiate a conversation, a user executes the
talk command specifying the second user's account name.  When the second user
is logged onto the same host or onto a host in the same TCF cluster as the
first user, only the user name need be specified-the host and tty
specifications may be omitted.

If the second user is known to be on a specific foreign host, either inside or
outside of the TCF cluster, the name of the host may be specified in one of the
following ways:

   user@host

   host!user

   host.user

   host:user

If you specify the host!user form from the csh shell, the '!' (exclamation
point) needs to be quoted; otherwise, the csh shell will try to interpret the
'!' as a magic character.  One way of quoting the csh shell is to specify
host\!user.  When the second user is logged onto more than one terminal, the
talk command selects one of the terminals according to the following rules.  If
a specific terminal is specified with the tty parameter, that terminal is
selected.  Otherwise, the talk command selects the first login session it finds
on the specified host.  If no host is specified, talk selects the first login
session it finds for that user, looking first on the local host, then on other
sites within the TCF cluster.

When the first user initiates the conversation, a message is sent to the second
user, inviting a conversation.  Once the invitation is received, the talk




Processed October 29, 1990         TALK(1,C)                                  1



TALK(1,C)                   AIX TCP/IP User's Guide                   TALK(1,C)



command displays two windows on the first user's terminal and displays progress
messages until the second user responds to the invitation.

If the second user wants to have the conversation, the second user also
executes talk from any terminal and specifies the first user's account name and
host name, if appropriate.  If the second user accepts the invitation, talk
displays two windows on each user's terminal.  One window displays what is
typed by the local user.  The other displays what is typed by the remote user.
To end the conversation, either user can press Cntl-C (INTERRUPT) key and the
connection is closed.

If the second user does not want to permit talk invitations, that user should
issue the mesg n command.  For more information on using the mesg command, see
AIX Operating System Commands Reference.

Note:  The talk command uses the talk 4.3BSD protocol, which is not compatible
with 4.2BSD versions of talk.

EXAMPLES

  1. If john at host1 wants to talk to fred, who is logged in on host2, john
    enters:

         $ talk fred@host2

    The following message is displayed on fred's terminal:

         Message from TalkDaemon@host1 at 15:16...
         talk: connection requested by john@host1.
         talk: respond with: talk john@host1

    To accept the invitation, fred enters:

         $ talk john@host1

  2. To talk to fred, only if he is logged in on the console at host2, enter:

         $ talk fred@host2 console

RELATED INFORMATION

In this book:  "talkd."
mesg, refer to AIX Operating System Command Reference












Processed October 29, 1990         TALK(1,C)                                  2

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